Overview
- The leadership gap has roughly doubled since 2015 and eased from a 2022 peak, yet companies still report disruptive vacancies.
- Only 14% of surveyed non-managers would take a leadership role, 40% would consider it, and 43% reject the idea, based on a representative sample of about 3,100 employees.
- Top deterrents cited were high workload (77%), large responsibility (75%), and impacts on private life (73%), with low financial appeal and potential loss of collegial ties each mentioned by 48%.
- Among those open to managing, higher salary motivates 95% and greater decision-making autonomy appeals to 85%.
- Kofa recommends flexible leadership designs such as part-time or home office plus deputy roles, mentoring and coaching, and it warns official vacancy data likely undercounts team-lead openings.